the airwaves, kind of. he has a new rambling online show, shot into his own home. the question is what did sheen think of the "snl" spoof of his winning ways. it is way too early for this. good morning. this is willie geist and this is watt way too early. i'm glad you are watching on msnbc. shoot me an e-mail and let me know what you are doing up at this hour. text the word awake followed by your response 622639. the next 30 minutes is the cram session for monday, march 7th. a lot going on. defense secretary robert gates on a visit to afghanistan where he declared the u.s. military will have a presence beyond the

loose 205 deadline. the wedding photo gone terribly, terribly, terribly wrong. >> oh, no way. we'll have the story and play the video on the loop. first, let's get to the news at 30 rock in new york city. there are new fears that libya is headed toward a full blown civil war. troops loyal to moammar gadhafi have launched an offensive as they look tory gain towns currently held by the opposition. over the weekend, rebels lost ground in their march toward tripoli after being driven back from a key battleground city. meanwhile, a french television network reports gadhafi is claiming the african union is sending a fact finding committee

to libya that will show reports are a lie. ban ki-moon says gadhafi's foreign minister is allowing an assessment team to tripoli. the international community is struggling whether to impose a no-fly zone to prevent gadhafi from bombing his own people. yesterday senator joon kerry argued in favor of it. >> the last thing we want to think about is any kind of military intervention. i don't think the fly zone stepping over that line. >> secretary gates says that is going to war. if you have a fly zone you have to bomb their anti-aircraft installations, you are bombing a country. >> that is not the only option for what one can do. one could crater the airports and runways and leave them incapable of using them for a period of time. i don't think this is going to

be a long-term kind of thing. >> what always concerns people, people always say that when we start to get into these things. this is not going to be for the long term. they said that about world war i. >> i said that about a fly zone. only if gadhafi is using it as a means of terror, massacring large numbers of civilians, only then the global community would say we have to do something. >> mitch mcconnell and john mccain spoke in favor of the no-fly zone. >> i think it is worth considering. the other option john kerry alluded to is aiming and arming the insurgents. gadhafi going and everybody in the united states and everybody in libya will conclude that is the best outcome.

>> perhaps the people around him would begin to depart the sinking ship and by a no-fly zone, declaring our assistance. >> over on "meet the press" white house chief of staff bill daley warned against it. >> people throw around phrases like no-fly zone, like it is a game on a video game. some people who throw that line out have no idea what they are talking about. >> oil prices soaring. da daley says the obama administration is considering tapping into the strategic oil reserves. the national average of a gallon of gas is $3.50, up 40 cents a gallon. defense secretary robert gates

is in afghanistan today for a surprise visit. yesterday karzai rejected a rare apology from general david petraeus over the deaths of nine afghan children killed by coalition helicopters last week. in a statement karzai said civilian casualties during military operations by coalition forces are the main reason for tension in relations between afghanistan and the united states. skit not acceptable for the afghan people anymore. regrets and condemnation of the incidents cannot heal the wounds of the people. secretary gates is expected to travel areas most fiercely contested by the taliban. gates said this morning that the u.s. and afghan governments agree the american military should remain in the country to help train and advise afghan forces. this trip will inform the

secretary's decision of the number of troop withdrawals that should take place in the coming months. despite the threat of a government shutdown next friday dick durbin is drawing a line in the sand regarding the budget. saying he is unwilling to cut more than $10.5 billion in domestic diggs cession their spending. republicans want $60 billion in cuts. but durbin says the issue is pushed to the limit. >> i'm willing to see more deficit reduction but not domestic discretionary spending. when you are cutting education and infrastructure, you are not dealing with this recession. >> senators kerry and mcconnell argued over whether the president and the white house have done enough to balance the budget. >> i don't believe what we have from the house is a serious plan. i think it is a reckless

statement. >> what is reckless, bob, is the $1.6 trillion deficit we are running this year. what is reckless is the $3 trillion we have added to the national debt. when my friend john kerry says cutting government spending is reckless, i'm wondering what planet he is living on. >> do you believe president obama is, in fact, serious about getting something done here? >> no, i don't. so far i don't see the level of seriousness we need. for example, they are in denial about social security. they are saying social security is not a problem. the congressional budget office says it is running a $50 billion deficit this year. >> this week it comes into the senate. despite the heated rhetoric, bill daley at the white house expressing optimism. >> we are not that far apart. we are over $50 billion cuts.

the house passed hr-1, $100 billion. we are halfway there. there is total agreement no one wants a shut down. it will do only harm to the economic recovery. i'm optimistic there will not be a shutdown. >> president obama weighed in on his weekly radio address. obama added he was open to more cuts as long as they do not risk his top priorities in technological development, education and infrastructure. the "new york times" is reporting talks have broken down between wisconsin governor scott walker and the awol democrats. it now seems conceivable the democrats will return in the near future. that development comes as the crowd in madison dwindled over

the weekend when 12,000 people compared to 70,000 seen last week. making a noticeable appearance was filmmaker michael moore who urged the crowd to maintain pressure on walker. sherrod brown apologizing for invoking hit already. brown said he made a mistake and did not want his comments to distract from critical debates around the country. peter king, the chairman of the house homeland security committee will hold controversial hearings on what he calls the radicalization of american muslims. hundreds of people gathered in times square to criticize the move. yesterday congressman king defended his hearings. >> there has been self-radicalization going on within the muslim community. that is where the threat is. to have investigations into every time of violence.

eric holder is not saying he is staying away at night because of what is coming from anti-abortion demonstrators or environmental extremists or neo-nazis. >> his critics include keith ellison, the first muslim elected to congress calling the hearings a witch hunt. investigates a religious minority is "the wrong course of action to take." it is still a murky field for 2012. president obama and his team are wasting no time on his h election committee. iowa, new hampshire, nevada and south carolina. bill daley engaged on "meet the press" in a concerted effort to play hup huntsman. he has been nanled as a potential 2012 candidate.

daley was asked about huntsman. add alexander to the list of skeptics who don't think donald trump has a chance of winning the nomination. >> donald trump has no chance of winning. he is famous for being business. >> i don't know about that. bill richardson says a dark horse candidate will be the most formidable challenge to obama. >> i do think the more formidable challenge for president obama who i believe will be re-elected will be a dark horse candidate sort of the way lamar alexander was years ago when he was running. i thought he would be a very serious candidate and he was kind of a dark horse. >> on fox news sunday chris wallace discussed newt

gingrich's enter into the race for president. >> unfortunately for the former speaker it reinforces a widely held concern about him he is brilliant, but undisciplined. >> the problem with someone like gingrich is lack of discipline. he appeals to the conservative base. >> he has a much harder edge now. the calling of president obama as a socialist which newt gingrich thinks is a big idea. that is not a big tent idea. >> in a campaign speech former massachusetts governor mitt romney tackled criticism of his health care policies and admitted mistakes in the universal insurance law he championed up there. >> some things worked, some things didn't, some things i would change, one thing i would never do is usurp the constitutional power of states with a one size fits all federal

takeover. i would repeal obama care. obama care is bad law constitutionally, it is bad policy, it is bad for american families. that is one reason why president obama will be a one-term president. >> this is romney's defense it was good for massachusetts, but a one size fits all is not good for the country. a lot of analysts saw that speech as romney's unofficial kickoff for the 2012 season. there is no crying in basketball, is there? apparently lebron james and dwyane wade and gang were weeping in the locker room. plus the sheen media machine is back up and running. the reviews from charlie's weekend web show are in. they are like the oscars. "way too early" comes right back.

we're marching today to dramatize to the nation, to dramatize to the world that hundreds of thousands of negro citizens in america are denied the right to vote. ugh, time to color.

woohoo! whoa. haircolor is a chore no more! you gotta come see what's new. c'mon! tadaaa! welcome to haircolor heaven. aa-ah-ahhh! courtesy of new nice 'n easy colorblend foam. permanent, dimensional color, now in a delightful foam! just three shakes, foam it, love it! simply saturate hair root to tip, front to back. with tones and highlights. it's foamtastic! home haircolor, make room for foam haircolor! new nice 'n easy colorblend foam. your right color. [ male announcer ] here they come. all the new tech products you need. and they're all looking for the same thing.

♪ the one place that makes technology easy. staples. with highly-trained tech experts and expanded tech centers, staples makes finding the right technology just the way you want it. easy. easy to buy. easy to fix. easy to save. staples. that was easy. easy to buy. easy to fix. easy to save. how are you getting to a happier place? running there? dancing there? how about eating soup to get there? campbell's soups fill you with good nutrition, farm-grown ingredients,

and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. 5:47 in the morning. live picture of times square. still wet out there. boy, it was ugly yesterday. let's get a check of the weather from ginger zee. from wmaq, glad to have you back? >> good to be here. >> the soaking rin is north. it is misty still. gives you a little facial. >> i needed it. >> the storm is moving to the

north. that means heavy snow for the interior and heavy rain for portland, maine. winter storm warnings for the pink, advisories in the white. the cold front went through, boston in the 50s, they will end up in the mid 40s with the rain showers. that is what the northeast looks like. d.c. gets more sunshine, 52 the high. a national perspective, storm number two coming on the heels. severe weather for the southeast and a 39 in chicago, atlanta 55, partly sunny skies there. we will dry out here from d.c., philly to new york, but keeping that storm up in new england. >> a little break and the bad weather comes. thanks, ginger. now for some sports. a rough stretch for lebron james and the miami heat. losing to the bulls last night by one point. lebron had a chance to win it in the final seconds. he missed.

dwyane wade couldn't convert. they lost 5 of the last 6. they lost to orlando. it is starting to take a toll on the players. after the game miami coach told an espn reporter some heat players are crying in the locker room at the moment. no word on which heat players. james and wade talked about the mounting losses. >> i told my team i'm not going to continue to fail them late in the games. i put a lot of blame on myself tonight on telling the guys that i keep failing them late in games and i won't continue to do that. >> we stick together. we are brothers. we win together, we lose together. also the miami heat is exactly where everybody wanted. the world is better now the heat is losing.

>> time to fill out the college brackets. this sunday is selection sunday. saturday third ranked byu clinched a share of the title with a win over wyoming. in the news last week for kicking brandon davies off the team. davies one of the bench in street clothes on saturday. he took part in the connecticuting ceremony. taking down the nets after they won the title. he got a standing ovation from the fans. pretty loud in there for brandon davies. libyan rebels are dealt a setback on the road to ousting moammar gadhafi. the debate in washington around a no-fly zone. when we come back here, we huddle around the water cooler to check out the "snl" spoof.

charlie sheen and gadhafi. what could go wrong? vo: it's time for a phone... to save us from our phones. new windows phone. now for a limited time get a samsung focus for $99.99, at at&t. at 190 miles per hour, the wind will literally lift ordinary windshield wipers off the glass. so, did we build a slower car? or design wipers that could handle anything? what do you think?

the cadillac cts-v, the world's fastest production sedan. we don't just make luxury cars, we make cadillacs

as we've been talking about this morning, the white house and congress continuing their battle in an effort to trim the

nation's deficit. history shows stopping the flow of red ink is rarely done. since 1969 only four u.s. budget surpluses have been recorded. our large u.s. surplus was in 2000 over $290 billion. for the real news, dig into charlie sheen. what a weekend it was for charlie sheen. he started a web show called sheen's corner. can we see a little bit of that? yeah. from his home. as a matter of fact, there he is with one of the goddesses. he revealed he tattooed the word winning on the inside of his wrist. the webcast, sheen's corner, let's look at last night's episode. >> sheen's corner is ingrained in the pantheon of the whole

movement. the tagline is torpedoes of truth. you are in sheen's corner or with the trolls. sheen's corner, a violent torpedo of truth. you are in my corner or with the trolls. i'm burning my own face but i can't feel the pain because [ bleep ] pain is a [ bleep ] myth. >> the first show on saturday he had a couple of cameras, last night they were down to the one desk camera. "snl" opened with bill hater doing charlie sheen and moammar gadhafi. >> it is great to be here. it is great to be anywhere but libya. who is running that place? thanks, but actually, i'm not doing so great. >> impossible.

you are so bitchin, so gnarly, you are killing it right now. >> if by it you mean my people, yes, i'm very much killing it. >> you have been a star dictator on a hit country for 42 seasons. without you, nobody talks about libya. who are they going to replace you with an elective democracy, john statement mos, come on? >> he got the statue of approval from charlie sheen. sheen texted the new york post said it was pure genius because it ask based on me and bill hader is a genius as well. one more piece of video, wedding photo gone wrong. a nice lovely couple you hate to see this, a lovely sonoma county beach wedding wiped out by a jind wave. they went out the next day to

take that picture. maybe it wasn't meant to be. "morning joe" just moments away. , , you can do dinner. 4 minutes, around 4 bucks. campbell's chunky. it's amazing what soup can do.™ you have a really nice neck. thank you, it's just genetics... whoa! huh? mr. clean magic eraser kitchen scrubber with the grease-fighting power of dawn. right in the eraser. oh-h, look at the bubbles. bottle 1: that's the race car of erasers. bottle 2: it is, it's the "erase car". is there a pit stop in this guy's future? this is unbelievable. he helps remove three times more greasy kitchen mess per swipe. well, i think he wins this race. oh man, look at him go. if i had hands, i'd throw in the towel. yeah, things aren't what they used to be. mr. clean magic eraser kitchen scrubber... but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind?

[ female announcer ] introducing purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena® naturals. developed with dermatologists... it's clinically proven to remove 99% of dirt and toxins and purify pores. and with natural willowbark it contains no dyes, parabens or harsh sulfates. dirt and toxins do a vanishing act and my skin feels pure and healthy. [ female announcer ] new purifying facial cleanser from the new line of neutrogena naturals.